Paris (France) (AFP) – In just over 120 films, Isabelle Huppert has played almost everything. Everything, except a film extra with an anonymous career who painfully tries to get her hours, as she does in “Neither seen nor known”, in theaters Wednesday.

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 12:00

“I called Isabelle before even starting to write to find out if she wanted to play this role,” director Marc Fitoussi told AFP.

The filmmaker, who has already directed the actress in two other feature films - "Copacabana" (2010) and "La Ritournelle" (2014) -, but also in an episode of the series "Dix pour cent", absolutely wanted to base his film on this paradox: telling the story of an invisible actress with one of the biggest stars of French cinema.

Isabelle Huppert plays Corinne Maclou, an extra backpacker, second-rate theater actress, but always convinced that luck will smile on her one day. CV in hand, she promotes herself on set with the stars of the profession.

When she meets Sandrine Kiberlain, a whimsical and somewhat disconnected diva, a friendship will be born and she sees the possibility of making a place for herself in the ruthless world of cinema.

Humiliation

“In + Ten percent + (of which he directed six episodes, editor's note), we had a bit of a tendency to glamorize everything. And I found that if it was about an extra, we had to tell this cinema seen from below and therefore tell the injustices, the privileges and this hierarchy which is omnipresent,” explains Marc Fitoussi.

The comedy does not ignore the small daily humiliations experienced by the extras, such as being prohibited from accessing the table with food and coffee, reserved for “team members”.

In the film, Corinne Maclou does not bend in the face of affronts. She is a talented actress, whose thwarted career appears to be an injustice to be repaired.

Sandrine Kiberlain, who plays a fictional version of herself, will be surprised by Corinne's talent and get closer to her despite the gap that separates them.

“There was a whole character to create which is a sweet mix of what I can be in places and what I never am,” says the actress. “I am not at all a Sandrine Kiberlain who thinks she is Sandrine Kiberlain, but this is still a character where we have pushed to the extreme what people imagine about fame, privileges, whims,” she continues.

Self-deprecation

Cinema “pushes us a little to be above ground. We are very solicited, supervised, pampered, pampered”, recognizes Sandrine Kiberlain.

“The film also made Isabelle and I think about how lucky we are to have arrived where we are today. To be able to dare to talk about that in a second-degree way, you have to have acquired a certain place in this profession and we are totally aware of it,” insists the actress, for whom this is the third film with Marc Fitoussi.

“Neither seen nor known” is also a gallery of portraits of actresses, like that of Anne Marivin (“Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis”), who, of course, works, but must pull out all the stops to pay the bills at the risk of accepting thankless roles.

“The film is a declaration of love to actresses, who succeed or who don’t,” insists Marc Fitoussi. “We're making a comedy here that requires a lot of self-deprecation, and I find that the actresses have a lot more humor than the actors,” underlines the filmmaker.

“I realized it on + Ten percent +, we were already calling on + guests + who had to play under their own name and I always found that the actresses who participated like Sandrine (Kiberlain), Isabelle (Huppert) or Monica Bellucci were not afraid of this fantasy and to go there frankly”, assures the director.

© 2026 AFP

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